I
If there’s a subject that truly complexifi es a boat tester’s existence,
scheduling’s gotta be it. Shoot, you’d think that, even in this
imperfect world, sea trialing a fi ne little crossover center console
like Regulator’s 26XO would be comparatively straightforward,
especially since the boat, her skipper and a whole pile of fi shable
water lay only 150 miles west of my North Florida home. But here’s
the deal: As soon as I tried to come up with a date, I discovered I
was booked solid. Th e skipper, Chris Sailors of Gregg Orr Marine
in Destin, Florida, was booked solid. And, due to upcoming boat
shows, the boat was booked solid, too.
So, the way things turned out, I had one day—just one particular
day—to get the 26 launched on Chocktawhatchee Bay, squeeze
all the pertinent test data out of her and her 300-hp Yamaha F300
outboard and, last but not least, check out her touted piscatorial
potential. Th is was altogether doable, it seemed to me, except for
one fi nal detail: the skipper’s wife, Lee, had a scheduling issue of
her own. She was on the verge of giving birth to the couple’s second
child. And I do mean, the verge!
“But Monday—yeah, that’ll be okay,” said Sailors, the young,
expectant father, as we fi nalized arrangements on the phone. “She
isn’t due until the end of the week, maybe like Th ursday or Friday.”
It was early when we slid the 26 into the water at the Joe’s Bayou
boat ramp on test day. Th e weather was fi ne—hardly a cloud in the
sky. And within an hour or so, we were hovering above a near-shore
fi shing hole in the Gulf of Mexico called Urchin Reef while enjoying
one of our test boat’s nift y options—a Minn Kota Riptide Ulterra
trolling motor with i-Pilot and Bluetooth capabilities.
Remember how it was in the old days? When bottom fi shing over a
wreck or reef meant dropping the hook at least once, but more likely
several times over, in order to zero in? Sailors was trouncing this
antique approach with a handheld wireless remote that essentially
turned the Minn Kota on the bow into a GPS-governed electronic
anchor. He’d started by directing the unit to swing itself overboard
(which it did with robotic fl air), then he’d begun quietly steering us
to the exact spot he wanted us to be. And then fi nally, he’d tapped
“ANCHOR,” a move that was holding us in place via a pod-type pro-
pulsion unit that rotated through 360 degrees while continuously
modifying thrust.
“Guess you got cellphone coverage out here, Chris,” I ventured,
while baiting a circle hook with a chunk of squid. “In case we gotta
run for the hospital. You never know.”
“Yeah,” replied Sailors, “It’ll be okay.”
I thumbed my Shimano Tekota 800 reel until the sinker hit bottom
and then pulled the rig up a couple of feet to wait while the Minn
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